Development approved; Wainfleet council rezones former Lakewood Camp property to allow condominiums

The land that once provided an escape for children with disabilities at the former Lakewood Camp will soon be home to 35 $500,000 lakefront condominiums.

Tuesday night, Wainfleet council approved a revised zoning bylaw amendment for the vacant campground on Lakeshore Road to allow Lakewood Beach Properties Ltd., and partners, to build a controversial condominium community based on a slew of holding provisions.

The application was approved subject to rezoning the land to open space and limits the number of dwellings to 35. The holding provisions require that:

- a site plan agreement or condominium agreement and municipal responsibility agreement for the water supply and sewage disposal system;

- a storm water management plan, grading plan and drainage plan satisfactory to the township and Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority;

- a landscaping plan and a tree preservation plan satisfactory to the township;

- an environmental impact study with habitat preservation plans satisfactory to the township and the Region of Niagara;

- a geotechnical study for the proposed water supply and sewage disposal systems satisfactory to the township and the Ministry of Environment;

- environmental site assessments satisfactory to the township and the Ministry of Environment;

- a transportation impact study satisfactory to the township; and

- parkland dedication satisfactory to the township.

Once the requirements are met, the holding designations will be lifted without further public meeting and construction will be allowed on the 50.2-acre property.

The original proposal would have seen 56 single detached cottage/residential condominium developments, however that number was later reduced to 35 dwellings.

The eastern portion of the property will remain a habitat for the Fowler's toad, the beach will still be accessible to the public and condominiums will be serviced by private sanitation and water purification systems.

"I will appeal to the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board), this is wrong. What they did to us is wrong," said Lakeshore Road resident Lee Bott.

Bott and her husband, whose home backs onto the property, both voiced their objections to the development. They have 20 days to appeal the report to the Ontario Municipal Board.

Norm Rockwell, of Rockwell Development Corp., said if everything goes as planned, construction on the first dwellings could begin as early as next spring.

He said Lakewood Beach Properties is working with numerous consultants and engineering firms to address the sanitary system, topography, landscape, the Fowler's toad, wave upwash and runoff.

He said all the studies are either in the preliminary stages or complete.

He said it will take three to four years to build phase one of the project, which he estimated to be worth about $17 million.

The lakefront condominiums will be valued between $500,000 to $600,000.

Public meetings were previously held on Dec. 12, 2006 and Aug. 14 of this year, where residents had the opportunity to share their support or voice their concerns against the development.

Public comments included concern for the Fowler's Toad, a provincially and nationally threatened species; loss of rural character; the current boil water advisory; building homes on properties less than one acre; the development's impact on water supply; and flooding and public access to the beach, to name a few.

Former Wainfleet residents also attended previous meetings and said a development such as this would encourage them to move back to their hometown.

Upon completion of the township's secondary plan, a proposed phase two would see 21 additional condominiums build with official plan and zoning bylaw amendments.